Dispersals,colonisation,immigration and population assimilation or replacement are fundamental themes in the Palaeolithic record of East Asia.Some of these issues can be studied within a biogeographic framework that e...Dispersals,colonisation,immigration and population assimilation or replacement are fundamental themes in the Palaeolithic record of East Asia.Some of these issues can be studied within a biogeographic framework that explains why and how the distribution of hominin species changed over time and space in response to climatic and environmental change.Because hominins(and especially humans)can change their behaviour through technical,social and cognitive developments,biogeographic models also have to incorporate this factor when investigating dispersals.This is particularly important with the dispersals in East Asia by Homo sapiens into rainforests,across open sea to off-shore islands,to the Arctic and the highest parts of the Tibetan Plateau.This paper suggests how hominin and human dispersals in East Asia might be investigated by using a biogeographic framework that can incorporate changes in hominin adaptability and behaviour.展开更多
The paleoenvironmental changes and adaptation strategies of hominins during the Late Pleistocene are crucial for understanding the evolution,dispersal,and behavioral shifts of early modern humans.Despite South China&#...The paleoenvironmental changes and adaptation strategies of hominins during the Late Pleistocene are crucial for understanding the evolution,dispersal,and behavioral shifts of early modern humans.Despite South China's significance as a nexus for hominin dispersal and handaxe technology diffusion,quantitative reconstructions of paleoenvironments linked to archaeological records remain scarce.The Sandinggai site(96.6-13.3 ka BP)in central South China,with its well-preserved stratigraphy and abundant lithic artefacts,is notable for providing valuable insights.In this study,quantitative reconstruction of the vegetation succession and climate change sequences at the site was conducted using palynological and isotopic data.The results indicated a shift from a warm-temperate evergreen and deciduous broadleaf mixed forest to a temperate deciduous broadleaf forest,with the climate transitioning from warm and humid to cooler and drier conditions.During the early phase,an increase in lithic production suggested favorable conditions for hominin survival.In the later phase,decreased lithic production and the replacement of large handaxe tools by smaller flake tools,indicated that hominins adapted to the cooler,drier climate and more open landscapes through lithic miniaturization.These findings highlight the environment-driven adaptation of lithic technology and hominin behavior,thereby shedding light on human survival adaptation strategies.展开更多
The paper proposes that the understanding of human language evolution requires the comprehensive understanding of language in terms of language types, formations, and learnings and the comprehensive understanding of h...The paper proposes that the understanding of human language evolution requires the comprehensive understanding of language in terms of language types, formations, and learnings and the comprehensive understanding of human biological evolution in terms of the emergences of various hominin species with various language capacities. This paper proposes language neuromechanics and the human biological-language evolution. Language is derived from bodily movement. Language neuro-mechanics combines neuroscience to study language brain and biomechanics to study language movement. Language neuromechanics consists of language type, language formation, and language learning. Language types for advanced animals include gestural language verse vocal language, instinctive language verse controllable language, and symbolic language verse iconic language. Language formation involves the developments of the different types of languages from different bodily movements phylogenetically and ontogenetically. Language learning involves the learning of controllable language to adapt to communicative environment through language brain regions and language genes. This paper proposes a gradual and step-by-step human language evolution from the language of great apes to the human language through the human biological evolution which chronologically and geographically consists of early hominins, early Homos, middle Homos, and late Homos with different language capacities. For hominins, vocal language and gestural language were evolved together. In conclusion, combining neuroscience and bio-mechanics, language neuromechanics provides the comprehensive understanding of language. The combination of language neuromechanics and the human biological-language evolution provides the clear evolutionary path from great apes’ articulate gestural language without articulate speech to human articulate gestural language and articulate speech.展开更多
The Qinling Mountain Range(QMR)spans a large region in China and is an important area of hominin activities.Many Paleolithic sites are found in Bahe,South Luohe,and Hanjiang river valleys in the northern,eastern,and s...The Qinling Mountain Range(QMR)spans a large region in China and is an important area of hominin activities.Many Paleolithic sites are found in Bahe,South Luohe,and Hanjiang river valleys in the northern,eastern,and southern part of the range,respectively.The Danjiang River valley acts as a channel connecting these valleys and stretches from the north to the south of the QMR.The previous dating of the Paleolithic sites in the Danjiang valley mainly relied on geomorphologic comparison,stratigraphic correlation,fossil characteristics,and Paleolithic artifacts,indicating a lack of absolute data.In this study,we conducted a detailed geochronological investigation of the entire valley,and selected an ideal site—the Miaokou profile.Based on the identification of the loess-paleosol sequences,optically stimulated luminescence,and magnetostratigraphy,the Paleolithic artifacts of the Miaokou site located within the S5 and S6 layers of the profile belong to~0.6-0.7 Ma.This suggests that the Paleolithic site is an old site in the Danjiang River valley,and this period also witnessed a rapid increase in the number of hominin sites during the Middle Pleistocene.Combining our results with previous reports across the QMR,we propose that the Danjiang River valley might have been a corridor for hominin migration,and is worthy of further investigation.展开更多
Since the early Pleistocene,climatic variability has profoundly influenced population dynamics,including the migration of hominins into and out of Africa.In South Asia,Quaternary sediments,particularly those found in ...Since the early Pleistocene,climatic variability has profoundly influenced population dynamics,including the migration of hominins into and out of Africa.In South Asia,Quaternary sediments,particularly those found in the Siwaliks,provide a valuable record of climatic changes relevant to hominin habitation.While the upper Soan Valley in Pakistan has been extensively studied for evidence of hominin to modern human activities,the associated environmental and climatic changes remain underexplored.This study aims to elucidate the climatic evolution of the Quaternary sediments in the Riwat area,with the primary objective of reconstructing the environmental conditions that facilitated long-term hominin settlement and survival.To address this knowledge gap,we analyzed the geochemistry and clay mineralogy of 46 sediment samples utilizing spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry(XRD),focusing on the Plio-Quaternary period.Our findings reveal three distinct climatic stages.The first stage(StageⅠ),was characterized by cold conditions during the Pliocene,and was further divided into semi-arid to semi-humid substages based on C-values.This was followed by a cold to humid climatic stage(StageⅡ)during the early to middle Pleistocene,marked by moderate to high chemical weathering,which was also categorized into semi-arid to semi-humid substages.Within StageⅡ,a warm and humid phase was inferred during the early to middle Pleistocene,culminating in the coldest and most arid conditions of StageⅢduring the late Pleistocene to Holocene.The climatic changes observed are indicative of the uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau and the influence of the southwestern monsoon on the Indian subcontinent.Moderate to intense monsoonal activity characterized the early to middle Pleistocene,creating conditions conducive to early hominin settlement and adaptation due to the availability of resources.Conversely,environmental conditions during periods of weakened monsoons exhibited an arid climate from the late Pleistocene to Holocene(corresponding to MIS 1-4 in oceanic records).This study enhances our understanding of hominin-climate interactions and has implications for the role of climate in shaping diverse hominin habitation patterns,both globally(out of Africa)and regionally(South Asian)contexts.展开更多
At Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau we report a series of hand and foot impressions that appear to have been intentionally placed on the surface of a unit of soft travertine.The travertine was deposited by water from a ...At Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau we report a series of hand and foot impressions that appear to have been intentionally placed on the surface of a unit of soft travertine.The travertine was deposited by water from a hot spring which is now inactive and as the travertine lithified it preserved the traces.On the basis of the sizes of the hand and foot traces,we suggest that two track-makers were involved and were likely children.We interpret this event as a deliberate artistic act that created a work of parietal art.The travertine unit on which the traces were imprinted dates to between~169 and 226 ka BP.This would make the site the earliest currently known example of parietal art in the world and would also provide the earliest evidence discovered to date for hominins on the High Tibetan Plateau(above 4000 m a.s.l.).This remarkable discovery adds to the body of research that identifies children as some of the earliest artists within the genus Homo.展开更多
In this paper we report on Longgudong,an Early Pleistocene cave site in south China which was systematically excavated in 1999 and 2000,and where human teeth and associated stone artifacts were discovered within the s...In this paper we report on Longgudong,an Early Pleistocene cave site in south China which was systematically excavated in 1999 and 2000,and where human teeth and associated stone artifacts were discovered within the same stratigraphic layer.The age of this site was estimated from faunal comparisons and palaeomagnetism and has been attributed to the Early Pleistocene,most probably the earlier Early Pleistocene.The human teeth from this site have been well studied.However,the stone artifacts are still unknown to most scholars.This paper thus presents an analysis of the lithics as the first firmly demonstrated stone tools associated with Early Pleistocene human fossils in south China.展开更多
文摘Dispersals,colonisation,immigration and population assimilation or replacement are fundamental themes in the Palaeolithic record of East Asia.Some of these issues can be studied within a biogeographic framework that explains why and how the distribution of hominin species changed over time and space in response to climatic and environmental change.Because hominins(and especially humans)can change their behaviour through technical,social and cognitive developments,biogeographic models also have to incorporate this factor when investigating dispersals.This is particularly important with the dispersals in East Asia by Homo sapiens into rainforests,across open sea to off-shore islands,to the Arctic and the highest parts of the Tibetan Plateau.This paper suggests how hominin and human dispersals in East Asia might be investigated by using a biogeographic framework that can incorporate changes in hominin adaptability and behaviour.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.42471185,No.T2192952National Key Research and Development Program of China,No.2022YFF0801502。
文摘The paleoenvironmental changes and adaptation strategies of hominins during the Late Pleistocene are crucial for understanding the evolution,dispersal,and behavioral shifts of early modern humans.Despite South China's significance as a nexus for hominin dispersal and handaxe technology diffusion,quantitative reconstructions of paleoenvironments linked to archaeological records remain scarce.The Sandinggai site(96.6-13.3 ka BP)in central South China,with its well-preserved stratigraphy and abundant lithic artefacts,is notable for providing valuable insights.In this study,quantitative reconstruction of the vegetation succession and climate change sequences at the site was conducted using palynological and isotopic data.The results indicated a shift from a warm-temperate evergreen and deciduous broadleaf mixed forest to a temperate deciduous broadleaf forest,with the climate transitioning from warm and humid to cooler and drier conditions.During the early phase,an increase in lithic production suggested favorable conditions for hominin survival.In the later phase,decreased lithic production and the replacement of large handaxe tools by smaller flake tools,indicated that hominins adapted to the cooler,drier climate and more open landscapes through lithic miniaturization.These findings highlight the environment-driven adaptation of lithic technology and hominin behavior,thereby shedding light on human survival adaptation strategies.
文摘The paper proposes that the understanding of human language evolution requires the comprehensive understanding of language in terms of language types, formations, and learnings and the comprehensive understanding of human biological evolution in terms of the emergences of various hominin species with various language capacities. This paper proposes language neuromechanics and the human biological-language evolution. Language is derived from bodily movement. Language neuro-mechanics combines neuroscience to study language brain and biomechanics to study language movement. Language neuromechanics consists of language type, language formation, and language learning. Language types for advanced animals include gestural language verse vocal language, instinctive language verse controllable language, and symbolic language verse iconic language. Language formation involves the developments of the different types of languages from different bodily movements phylogenetically and ontogenetically. Language learning involves the learning of controllable language to adapt to communicative environment through language brain regions and language genes. This paper proposes a gradual and step-by-step human language evolution from the language of great apes to the human language through the human biological evolution which chronologically and geographically consists of early hominins, early Homos, middle Homos, and late Homos with different language capacities. For hominins, vocal language and gestural language were evolved together. In conclusion, combining neuroscience and bio-mechanics, language neuromechanics provides the comprehensive understanding of language. The combination of language neuromechanics and the human biological-language evolution provides the clear evolutionary path from great apes’ articulate gestural language without articulate speech to human articulate gestural language and articulate speech.
基金National Social Science Foundation of China,No.19ZDA225National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.41972185The Project of Zhengzhou University,No.XKZDJC202006。
文摘The Qinling Mountain Range(QMR)spans a large region in China and is an important area of hominin activities.Many Paleolithic sites are found in Bahe,South Luohe,and Hanjiang river valleys in the northern,eastern,and southern part of the range,respectively.The Danjiang River valley acts as a channel connecting these valleys and stretches from the north to the south of the QMR.The previous dating of the Paleolithic sites in the Danjiang valley mainly relied on geomorphologic comparison,stratigraphic correlation,fossil characteristics,and Paleolithic artifacts,indicating a lack of absolute data.In this study,we conducted a detailed geochronological investigation of the entire valley,and selected an ideal site—the Miaokou profile.Based on the identification of the loess-paleosol sequences,optically stimulated luminescence,and magnetostratigraphy,the Paleolithic artifacts of the Miaokou site located within the S5 and S6 layers of the profile belong to~0.6-0.7 Ma.This suggests that the Paleolithic site is an old site in the Danjiang River valley,and this period also witnessed a rapid increase in the number of hominin sites during the Middle Pleistocene.Combining our results with previous reports across the QMR,we propose that the Danjiang River valley might have been a corridor for hominin migration,and is worthy of further investigation.
基金China scholarship council for continuous support in this research projectsupported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC-42330411)
文摘Since the early Pleistocene,climatic variability has profoundly influenced population dynamics,including the migration of hominins into and out of Africa.In South Asia,Quaternary sediments,particularly those found in the Siwaliks,provide a valuable record of climatic changes relevant to hominin habitation.While the upper Soan Valley in Pakistan has been extensively studied for evidence of hominin to modern human activities,the associated environmental and climatic changes remain underexplored.This study aims to elucidate the climatic evolution of the Quaternary sediments in the Riwat area,with the primary objective of reconstructing the environmental conditions that facilitated long-term hominin settlement and survival.To address this knowledge gap,we analyzed the geochemistry and clay mineralogy of 46 sediment samples utilizing spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry(XRD),focusing on the Plio-Quaternary period.Our findings reveal three distinct climatic stages.The first stage(StageⅠ),was characterized by cold conditions during the Pliocene,and was further divided into semi-arid to semi-humid substages based on C-values.This was followed by a cold to humid climatic stage(StageⅡ)during the early to middle Pleistocene,marked by moderate to high chemical weathering,which was also categorized into semi-arid to semi-humid substages.Within StageⅡ,a warm and humid phase was inferred during the early to middle Pleistocene,culminating in the coldest and most arid conditions of StageⅢduring the late Pleistocene to Holocene.The climatic changes observed are indicative of the uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau and the influence of the southwestern monsoon on the Indian subcontinent.Moderate to intense monsoonal activity characterized the early to middle Pleistocene,creating conditions conducive to early hominin settlement and adaptation due to the availability of resources.Conversely,environmental conditions during periods of weakened monsoons exhibited an arid climate from the late Pleistocene to Holocene(corresponding to MIS 1-4 in oceanic records).This study enhances our understanding of hominin-climate interactions and has implications for the role of climate in shaping diverse hominin habitation patterns,both globally(out of Africa)and regionally(South Asian)contexts.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41971110 and 41888101)the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(2019QZKK0601)the Early Career Scheme of Research Grants Council of Hong Kong(28300717)。
文摘At Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau we report a series of hand and foot impressions that appear to have been intentionally placed on the surface of a unit of soft travertine.The travertine was deposited by water from a hot spring which is now inactive and as the travertine lithified it preserved the traces.On the basis of the sizes of the hand and foot traces,we suggest that two track-makers were involved and were likely children.We interpret this event as a deliberate artistic act that created a work of parietal art.The travertine unit on which the traces were imprinted dates to between~169 and 226 ka BP.This would make the site the earliest currently known example of parietal art in the world and would also provide the earliest evidence discovered to date for hominins on the High Tibetan Plateau(above 4000 m a.s.l.).This remarkable discovery adds to the body of research that identifies children as some of the earliest artists within the genus Homo.
基金funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Pioneer Hundred Talents Programthe China-South Africa Bilateral Programme in Palaeolithic Archaeology to Gao Xing(Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, China-South Africa Joint Research Program-7)K.Kuman(National Research Foundation,Grant No.88480)
文摘In this paper we report on Longgudong,an Early Pleistocene cave site in south China which was systematically excavated in 1999 and 2000,and where human teeth and associated stone artifacts were discovered within the same stratigraphic layer.The age of this site was estimated from faunal comparisons and palaeomagnetism and has been attributed to the Early Pleistocene,most probably the earlier Early Pleistocene.The human teeth from this site have been well studied.However,the stone artifacts are still unknown to most scholars.This paper thus presents an analysis of the lithics as the first firmly demonstrated stone tools associated with Early Pleistocene human fossils in south China.
